ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608120067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONG BEACH, CALIF.
SOURCE: LORI STAHL DALLAS MORNING NEWS
THE LESSER-KNOWN of the two Reform Party candidates says Ross Perot is making the campaign difficult for him.
When Ross Perot and Richard Lamm speak today to Reform Party members from the city's Convention Center, it will be only the second day that the presidential contenders have been on the same stage.
They are competing within a new party that both said was supposed to be an issues-driven ``field of dreams'' designed to supplant ``politics as usual.''
But the three-week Reform Party primary has often seemed like a textbook campaign, with both candidates trotting out time-tested political strategies.
Reform Party leaders acknowledge a few glitches but say critics should remember they are trying to create the momentum to establish a permanent third party.
``The important thing to recognize is that this is not about 1996, it's not about the presidential election, it's not about a candidacy for the presidency,'' said Russell Verney, national coordinator of the Reform Party. ``We're about building a new political party.''
But with Perot's decisive showing as an independent presidential candidate in 1992 - when he got 19 percent of the national vote - many outsiders are indeed focused on his party's presidential contest this year.
To mount another presidential campaign, Perot must first beat Lamm to get his party's nomination.
Lamm has been complaining for weeks that Perot's refusal to debate and unwillingness to share the party's mailing list are preventing him from having a fair shot at the nomination.
The complaints were made as two new books - one by former Perot adviser Ed Rollins and another by biographer Gerald Posner - offer complex and sometimes critical portrayals of Perot.
Also, some prominent Texas Republicans who have been silent about Perot's 1992 campaign are now speculating openly about his motives.
``I absolutely think it cost him the presidency,'' Gov. George W. Bush told CBS, referring to the effect of Perot's campaign on his father's re-election bid. ``I'm confident that Ross Perot had a personal vendetta against him.''
Unlike four years ago when he ran as a political outsider, Perot now seems to be using the leading candidate's favorite ploy: the Rose Garden strategy, said the Lamm campaign.
``The perceived front-runner doesn't often want to give the perceived challenger a chance to share the stage,'' said Lamm spokesman Eric Anderson. ``It sounds like what's happening here.''
Perot spokesmen have denied that, saying he has given many interviews, including one to MTV.
Perot, already the presumptive favorite for the nomination of the party he founded and bankrolled, out-polled Lamm 2-to-1 in a recent survey of party members.
Perot has made few public appearances and risked few of the missteps that dogged him four years ago.
After months of saying ``this is not about me,'' Perot jumped into the race a day after Lamm announced he was seeking the party's nomination.
Since then, Perot's campaign has consisted primarily of a day of live TV interviews and a daylong East Coast swing where he and Lamm spoke to Virginia and Maine party members.
Lamm, meanwhile, has been hampered by lack of money and relatively little name recognition outside Colorado, where he served three terms as governor.
He toured California and the East Coast after launching his campaign in Denver. Since then, with campaign money topping out at about $130,000, Lamm has been trying to gain recognition by appearing on radio call-in shows across the country.
Lamm named Ed Zschau as his running mate this month. Perot has yet to designate a vice presidential candidate.
Tensions between the campaigns has been growing.
Lamm called Perot ``autocratic'' and described the party's tactics as ``worse than politics as usual.''
Lamm also has been frustrated by Perot's refusal to debate or participate in joint functions where both men would get free media coverage.
Perot aides say voters will see plenty of the candidates when they speak in Long Beach today.
``That's what August 11 is designed for, for the candidates to present themselves in their own words,'' Verney said. ``It's an excellent vehicle for voters to decide.''
Lamm supporters say their candidate is getting the short end of the stick and that many voters realize it.
``None of this is lost on the participants in the Reform Party movement,'' said Tom D'Amore, senior adviser to the Lamm campaign. ``I'm talking about the rank and file, I'm not talking about the paid Dallas office.''
Reform Party officials sought federal financing that is routinely available to major party candidates. However, the Federal Elections Commission so far has found that it does not qualify for the money.
Perot's independent candidacy in 1992 made him, but not other Reform Party candidates, eligible for funds this year, according to the FEC.
Party officials are not expecting more than a few thousand people to show up in Long Beach at the first part of the two-part convention. But they are hoping thousands more watch it on C-SPAN and CNN or the Internet.
Party members have until Saturday to vote. The winner will be announced next Sunday.
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: Reform Party National Convention. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB